If
you�ve been a Christian for any length of time, there has probably been at least
one time when you have felt like God has forsaken you - betrayed you. You prayed (or someone
else prayed); you trusted that God would grant you your heart�s desire in a
given matter, and He didn�t come through the way you expected Him to come
though.

Then
came the discouragement and possibly some low-level anger. The sickening
feeling that God had forsaken you may very well have shaken your confidence in
Him like nothing else has.

It�s a
terrible thing to feel like God has forsaken you, isn�t it?

There�s
a darkness in your soul that words are hard to describe it adequately. Part of
you is thinking, �I�m not sure whether I want to trust God or not anymore. I
mean � what�s the use?�

Jesus
Christ experienced the feeling of being forsaken by God The Father worse than
any other human being who has walked this earth. While on the cross dying, the
sins of every person on this planet were being heaped on Jesus. It was why
Jesus had come to earth for � to be slaughtered like an innocent lamb in our
place � to become the scapegoat who would take the Father�s wrath for the sins
of you and I � for the sins of world.

Up until
this painful moment in time, Jesus had always experienced oneness with His
heavenly Father. But suddenly that oneness was compromised. God the Father
could not be one with his son Jesus because of all the sin laid upon Him. The
sin bought painful separation.

Because
God the Father had to separate Himself from Jesus due to the sins of the world
heaped on Jesus, Jesus felt a spiritual separation that caused Jesus to
painfully cry out, �My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?� (Matthew 27:46)

Jesus
knew while still in the Garden of Gethsemane only hours earlier that His dying
on the cross was not going to be easy, but He had little idea there was coming
such a painful separation between Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Most
likely, Satan himself was present while Jesus gasped for breath on the cross,
saying to Jesus while the separation was manifesting itself:

�Look
what has happened to yourself? You trusted God to see you through all this, and
where did it get you in your darkest hour? Absolutely nowhere! You gave your
life in vain and you know it! You were deceived into thinking the Father was
going to maintain intimacy with you during your crucifixion. What a fool. Your
death on this cross has accomplished absolutely nothing, and the proof of it is
that The Father has left you when He should be here comforting you if He really
loved you.�

Jesus
probably wasn�t aware at the moment that the Father was administering one of the
most difficult tests that a human can experience, which is: �God has
betrayed me test.�

Scripture tells us in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was tempted in every way that any
other person has or will be tempted to sin, yet He never gave into those
temptations and sinned. Had Jesus sinned even one time, that would have
disqualified Him to be an acceptable sacrifice to the Father to atone for the
sins of the people of this world: Those alive at the time, those who had died
previous to this time, and those who would be born later on.

Dear
reader, if you feel as though God has somehow betrayed you, God is administering
the very same test to you that Jesus was administered on the cross. Jesus knows
the pain of your rejection. Jesus knows the sickening feelings of abandonment
and rejection from God the Father you may be experiencing at this moment, and He
is praying for you while being seated on the right hand of the Father. He�s
praying that you will not stop trusting the Father from here going forward.
He�s praying that you will come to the understanding that you�ve encountered the
most painful test the Father gives a person � the painful test of feeling
betrayed by God that causes you to cry out to God: �My God, My God, why
have you forsaken me?�

Why does
God give us such a painful test? To see who is going to become and/or remain a
disciple of Jesus Christ, and see who will turn away from remaining a disciple
of Jesus Christ.

In case
you aren�t aware of it � God will not always grant us the desires of our heart
at the expense of bypassing character growth in us.

Saying
it another way, �God is far more interested in birthing character growth in us
than anything else in this life, because character growth formed in us has
eternal ramifications. Christians who don�t turn their back on God
indefinitely will co-reign
with Jesus Christ through eternity, because they have proven to Him they can be
trusted to stick with Him through every "test" He chooses to give them.

In Christian circles,
some question what it fully means "to be baptized in the Holy Spirit".
Interestingly ... we don't question much what it means to be "baptized by
fire."

"I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I,
whose sandals I am not worth to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire.

"His
winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor,
and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire."
(Matthew 3:1-12 NKJV).

Christ tests us with
fiery trials to reveal our character flaws, and to grow Godly character as
we allow Him to.
Any time you are tempted to feel like God has forsaken you, God's blow torch is
aimed in your direction. How you handle the flame is crucially important.

Satan
and a third of the angels that fell with Satan lacked the proper righteous
character necessary for them to stay obedient to God. The time came when they
could no longer be trusted by God to serve Him properly.

God can always be
trusted to do what's best in every situation. The question IS: Can
WE be trusted to hang in there with God when we feel He has forsaken us?

It is
much easier to become and remain being a Christian when God answers our every
prayer -- granting us our every heart�s desire. It is perhaps the most
difficult thing to do (yet wisest thing to do) to keep hanging in there with God
and keep from being bitter at Him when things don�t go the way we hope and/or
expect.

A wise
Christian has learned something about God that will keep them from pulling away
from God when temptation may be knocking to do so because of feelings of
betrayal:

Give
thanks to Godin all things, (See: 1 Thess. 5:18)
andfor all
things. (See: Ephesians 5:20).
It�s the way to pass every test God gives you
for your spiritual growth while remaining free from bitterness at God.
However - don't be confused about giving thanksfor "ALL" things.
God isn't asking us to be thankful that Satan has or is inflicting evil against
us. God NEVER wants us being thankful for evil
Satan launches against us and others! Remaining thankful while Satan is
sifting us is a Christ-like PURPOSEFUL MIND SET God is talking about. God wants us believing through our trial
that He will be there fighting for us to make it THROUGH the trial without
becoming angry and bitter at Him. God
wants us believing through our trial that He will reward us in eternity for
holding up under the trial. God wants us also believing that once we are
through our trial and God has brought deliverance and/or healing and blessing to
us ... He is going to use us to help OTHERS get through THEIR trials. (This too
God will reward us for in eternity).

Let us always remember that our goal is to WISELYTHINK Christ-likeness at all times. We need to rely on
the Holy Spirit to help us do that, especially when the temptation to be angry
and frustrated with God is the greatest. Jesus no doubt had various
temptations thrown at Him to be angry with the Father -- especially during the
period of His crucifixion when the crushing depression and hopelessness fell
upon Him when the past, present and future sins of the world (sins of
yours and mine!) was put upon Him by the Father. Yet the Bible clearly tells us that He refused
to be angry with the Father, or the people who Satan was using to cause His
pain. The antidote the Holy Spirit gave Jesus to use against His
temptation to want to bring WRATH against the people responsible for His
crucifixion was: "Father - forgive them for they know not what they
do." The Father DIDN'T forgive them any more than
Jesus forgave them (unless they repented to Him and sincerely asked His
forgiveness and ultimately let Jesus be their Savior and Lord before dying) --
but it was the antidote ... or the missile to destroy Satan's missile of
temptation to get Jesus angry to the degree that the Father would see it as sin.
Remember - it most likely was the GREATEST temptation to sin He ever faced.
And if Jesus would have sinned just ONCE - His crucifixion for you and I would
have been in total vain. (The Father could ONLY accept a perfectly sinless
human sacrifice to make payment for our sins, otherwise it wouldn't have
accomplished the eternal plan of the Father to make you and I as holy as He and
Jesus and the Holy Spirit ARE).

There is a time to FORGIVE our earthly enemies (for OUR
good) which they most likely don't deserve it. It is STILL the antidote
God wants us to use to keep us spiritually healthy when everything in us wants God to execute His wrath against
them in 10 seconds or less, and even better at moments like that, "Use ME to be
the executer of it without any repercussions, God!"

As an important sidebar regarding trials: Many of
our trials that Satan inflicts against us has to do with deceptive Christian
teaching we have believed that centers around "The Prosperity Gospel."
Under this "Deceitful Prosperity Gospel Umbrella" comes many deadly tentacles. Essentially, the Prosperity Gospel is the belief that God desires that
everything goes "rosy" in the life of a Christian. No pain; no sorrow; no
troubles. Financial favor and pain free/hassle free from sickness and/or
disease. God's favor every step we take; every day we live.God
wants me happy and joyous 24 x 7! God wants to give me the
desires of my heart, because He says so in Psalms, and suffering is not for me! Yes - God often does give us the desires of our
heart, but sometimes not until we have been sifted like wheat at Satan's hand,
and sometimes not even then, and here's WHY: Indeed, all who desire to
live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2
Timothy 3:12)

Yet let us always remember this about God: No matter WHAT Satan is allowed to inflict
against us and/or our loved ones ... God can turn it around for our ultimate
good and glory. Martyred saints may not see God vindicate them in this
life, but it glory they will be amply vindicated and rewarded. God
delights in turning our trials Satan launches against us into praiseworthy
triumphs. Sometimes He does so in this life - we have every right to
believe He will! But if He chooses not to, then for certain we'll realize
the triumph/s in glory.

The
Christian who says to God, �God � whatever you decide is best for me, I accept
it, no matter how much pain might accompany it. I trust your wisdom for my life
� because I know that battling hardships is Your way of birthing Christ-like
character in me � which has eternal rewards connected with it."

Blessed is the man
who endures temptation, for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown
of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:12
NKJV)

PLEASE HELP SHARE THE
BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON!

"And this gospel of the
kingdom [Jesus
died for sinners] shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
(Quote from Jesus Himself: Matthew 24:14).

Consider how many children in
"all the nations" have never heard YET what Jesus accomplished
for THEM at the cross? PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS TO THE LITTLE CHILDREN!

To help us share the Best News every
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Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can
be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance
from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. Either
Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He
did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the
Judgment Day and tell
Him that you didn't need
the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and
get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a
tragic mistake.

To get to know God, to be at
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be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with
God right now ... please click hereto help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God.
What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will
spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most
important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is
impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.

We truly thank each of you who forward
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